The Mothers by Brit Bennett

“All good secrets have a taste before you tell them, and if we’d taken a moment to swish this one around our mouths, we might have noticed the sourness of an unripe secret, plucked too soon, stolen and passed around before its season.”

Seventeen year-old Nadia Turner has a bright future ahead of her, however her life takes a turn after the unexpected suicide of her mother. In coping with the loss and the ever distant relationship with her dad, she becomes involved with the local pastor’s son, Luke, who is four years her senior. A former athlete whose career came to an end as a result of an injury, his once promising future is at a standstill and he waits tables at a local restaurant. Nadia wants more out of the relationship than Luke is willing to offer, and an unexpected pregnancy shatters the illusion. She doesn’t want to get stuck in her hometown, especially when her way out is within reach. The events of that summer sets these two on a path that leads to a lifetime of asking the question “what if?”

“Oh girl, we have known littlebit love. That littlebit of honey left in an empty jar that traps the sweetness in your mouth long enough to mask your hunger. We have run tongues over teeth to savor that last littlebit as long as we could, and in all our living, nothing has starved us more.”

The Mothers is one beautifully written novel. This is evident from the first page with one lovely passage after another. The author has a way of describing and portraying emotions that is really well done and I marked many quotes throughout. While the story focuses on Nadia and Luke, the narrative includes the perspective of “the mothers,” which consists of a group of elderly ladies at the local church who observe it from a distance. This adds a unique element and an interesting voice. It did take me some time to really get into the story, which left me with some unanswered questions by the end. Having said that, it is undeniably well written and I look forward to seeing what stories Brit Bennett will create in the future.